There are 19 others who make a similar amount of money and earn $116,208 annually. The lowest-paid alderman is downtown's Brendan Reilly (42nd), who makes $104,928 a year. The rest make something in between.

Salaries for the 50 aldermen vary by as much as $12,000 because over the years some aldermen have rejected raises and others accepted them. It also depends on when the alderman took office and what the starting pay was at that time.

Each year since 2006, an alderman's salary has been adjusted to reflect the rate of inflation based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index, referred to as a cost of living metric. Aldermen can get either a raise or a pay cut depending on whether the index increases or decreases. If they don't want the automatic adjustment up or down, they can choose to decline it.

This year, a number of aldermen saw a slight dip in pay because the CPI decreased by less than 1 percent.

The job of an aldermen includes putting forth their own proposals such as banning plastic bags; voting on the mayor's proposals such as budgets, legal settlements and the privatization of parking meters; and giving input on a liquor license or development in his or her ward. Some say they work more than the typical 40 hours, five days per week and have taken unpaid days in the past too.

City Council members are not paid as much as Mayor Emanuel, who makes $216,210 annually. That's been the same salary for mayor since 2006.

Last July, the first increase to the minimum wage took effect since 2010, raising it from $8.25 to $10 an hour. This summer, it will go up to $10.25.

An overwhelming majority of the City Council voted in 2014 to approve the minimum wage hike to eventually reach $13 per hour by 2019.

Those who voted against the minimum wage increase are among the lowest paid on the council making less than $110,000: Reilly, Matthew O'Shea (19th), Michele Smith (43rd) and Tom Tunney (44th). Mary O'Connor (41st), also was below the $110,000 threshhold and voted against the minimum wage hike: she lost her aldermanic seat in a runoff election last April.